Police have launched a preliminary investigation on charges including obstruction of traffic as Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) continues a protest tactic of blocking bus departures in the Gwanghwamun area. After suspending subway protests, the group has shifted its protest methods, but repeated morning commute delays are increasing inconvenience for citizens.
According to SADD and police on Thursday, the group has held protests on weekdays for about three weeks near Gwanghwamun, demanding expanded adoption of low-floor buses, since launching the "420 Joint Struggle Committee for the Abolition of Disability Discrimination" on the 26th of last month. When a step-entry bus arrives, participants move onto the road and block its departure for about five minutes while holding banners. During these incidents, buses have lined up waiting in dedicated lanes or changed lanes.
SADD lowered the intensity of its protests by announcing it would temporarily suspend subway boarding protests from January this year until the June 3 local elections. However, as the bus protests continue, citizen complaints appear to be mounting again. Live-streamed videos of the protests have drawn responses such as "protest methods targeting morning commuters are excessive."
Police are conducting a pre-booking investigation of SADD Co-Representative Park Kyoung-seok and others on charges of violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act and general obstruction of traffic. Some participants have been asked to appear for questioning. "We are verifying the facts focused on the early protests, and if further illegal acts are confirmed, we plan to investigate them sequentially," a police official said.
SADD maintains that the protests are an unavoidable action to secure rights. "This is to make clear that people with disabilities are not objects of charity but subjects of rights," Park said. "Assemblies inevitably involve a certain level of inconvenience, and it is not appropriate to single out specific methods as problematic."
Behind the protests is the concern that the pace of low-floor bus adoption has fallen short of expectations. The Seoul Metropolitan Government presented a goal in 2022 of "100% adoption of low-floor city buses by 2025," but as of January this year, the adoption rate stood at 76.7%.
Local governments cite financial burden and road conditions as constraints. They argue that securing the budget needed to replace buses is not easy, and that operating low-floor buses can be difficult on routes with narrow widths or many curves.
Observers point out that judicial action against activists alone is unlikely to address the root cause of the problem. "Unless responsible attempts to resolve mobility rights issues accompany it, damage to citizens and a vicious social cycle will inevitably repeat," said Lee Byoung-hoon, professor emeritus of sociology at Chung-Ang University. "Dialogue efforts that allow compromise among stakeholders, including the political sphere, local governments and SADD, are urgently needed."
